Method of knitting tubular fabric



Patented June 11, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE In Germany 2 Claims.

This invention relates in the first place to tubular knitted fabrics which are reinforced in parts and can be manufactured upon flat knitting machines and in the second place to a methold .of

5 manufacturing said fabrics. In particular the object of the invention is to render it possible to manufacture tubular knit fabrics which are reinforced or spliced in portions of any desired breadth especially of a breadth which is less than the diameter of the tube and which may have furthermore any desired position with respect to the starting point of a course of loops even unsymmetrically relatively to that point without requiring the reinforcing or splicing threads knit into the fabric at their reversing points to be cut open for rendering possible the use of the knit fabric during the knitting procedure itself or thereafter.

It is known to manufacture knit fabrics rein- 2 forced in parts in that the reinforcing threads join the threads just being knit only along a certain length of way of the respective knit double course and no tube is formed by the reinforcing thread or threads by reversed knitting but the fabric is open and plane and can only afterwards be transformed into a tube by uniting the edges with one another.

There are likewise known knit fabrics in which a reinforcing thread joins the main thread in one tional thread in the other half. In this case the tube consists of two plane pieces produced by reciprocating knitting the ends of the threads of the two halves being twisted together or interlaced with one another at every change of stroke. These knit fabrics, it is true, constitute closed tubes, but there is always the entire breadth of one half of the fabric, that is to say, the entire breadth of the one plane piece, provided with the reinforcing thread. Besides, with this known method the reinforcement cannot be produced just at that place or portion where it is desired, and it cannot be produced only in that breadth just required for a certain case.

The new knit fabric is distinguished from the known knit fabrics in several respects.

In the first place, it is a knit tubular fabric that is reinforced only in parts and in which the reinforcing thread is not cut open at the suture seam of the reinforcement and is everywhere invisible. In this fabric the position and the breadth of the reinforced portions can be chosen as desired and independent of the breadth of the fabric itself, and it is, therefore, possible to restrict the reinforcements to those portions of the half of the fabric whereas there is no such addi- May 13, 1932 fabric which are particularly subjected to wear and tear (toe, knee, elbow) without the reinforced portions projecting on the outer surface of the fabric or becoming visible in any manner and thereby disturbing the good appearance of the fabric. As the reinforcement in parts, apart from the small expenditure for the reinforcement thread, does not entail a longer manufacturing time or an increase of the amount of work, the valuable particular reinforcements of the fabrics according to this invention are not obtained by an excessive increase of the manufacturing costs.

A particular feature of the fabric resides also in the connection of the end loops of the courses by means of knit over loops, as mentioned, and 15 also this is attained without an added working phase. L

Themethod for the'manufacture of the new tubular knit fabric which is partly reinforced consists essentially in that, at the end of every 20 double course, the fabric isclosed, so as to constitute a tube, by knitting over an end loop from the needle bed upon which the double course has just been finished to the end loop of the opposite needle bed, and back.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example'on the accompanying drawing, wherein Figs. 1-3 show transverse sections through tubular fabrics provided with various reinforcements.

Fig. 4 shows two needle beds of a flat knitting machine with a knit tube lying therebetween.

Fig. 5 which is drawn to an enlarged scale shows a portion of the knit fabric, including the union at the suture seam, all as more fully described hereinafter.

Fig. 6 shows fragmentary portions of the two needle beds and needles and a portion of the fabric, showing the formation of the suture 40 seam.

Fig. 1 explains the simplest manner of carrying out the present improved method. I denotes the fabric produced by the main thread guide and 2 is the reinforcement knit into that fabric. In order to provide for the reinforcement remaining open that is to say not requiring to be cut open at the places V and VI, the-further procedure is carried out in known manner as follows:

The main thread guide travels from the place I to the place V, where the reinforcing thread is taken along in known manner to the place II. Then the locks are actuated likewise in known manner in such a way that on the return of the slide the needles of the other needle bed are tinued to the place X place VI where the reinforcing thread guide remains, and now the knitting proceeds further to the place IV. From the place IV to the place I the thread is knit rearwardly across the places VI, III, II and V. The result of operating in this known manner is that the reinforcement knit into the fabric does not form a tube.

Now, in order to prevent the fabric from remaining open at the places I-IV, there is, according to this invention, a loop conveyed o'ver, at the end of every double course, from the one side to the other side, and reversely, as is indicated at 3- in Figs. 1 and 2.

When the knitting has been carried out from the place V to the place I, it is carried over from the place IV to the place I by lifting a needle on the side III-IV prior to the reversal of the path, the double course being then closed. Only thereafter is the next double course commenced, that is to say rearwardly from the place I across the place V, and so on, the knitting being continued to the place IV.

The foregoing description pertains to the method to be carried out according to Fig. 1. It is possible with this method to narrow the reinforcement, but it is circumstantial to effect the narrowing at the place I, IV (Fig. 1). That consumes comparatively much time.. Now, in order to be able to effect the narrowing also at the non-reinforced portion of the fabric it is only requisite to work not with only one reinforcing thread guide, as with the fabric according to Fig. 1, but with two thereof, as with the fabric according to Fig. 2, so that the locking loop is located at VII, X and the narrowing at VIII, IX, viz., at the not reinforced portion of the fabric.

Starting from the place menced at first solely with the main thread guide, and a course is knit from the place VII to the place VIII. Now the next course is knit from the place IX to the placeX, and the loop located at X is united with the loop located at VIII by the locking loop 3 which is effected in the manner already described in a preceding part of this specification. From a side, at the place VII, the reinforcing thread guide is introduced, the object of which is to produce the portion 21: of the reinforcement. This thread guide is left behind at the place IX and the knitting is conacross the places VIII and IX. At the place X is introduced laterally the reinforcing thread guide, the object of which is to manufacture the portion 2a of the reinforcement. The reinforcement thread guide for the portion 28. is left back at the place XII, whereas the main thread guide is further moved alone to the place XI across the places IX and VIII, where (at the place In) the reinforcing thread guide there present is taken along to the place VII for the manufacture of the reinforcing portion 2b- The reinforcing thread guides must, as is known, remain behind the main thread guide, if the inserted reinforcement is not to be visible from the outside.

From the consecutive Figs. l-3 can be clearly recognized the progress obtained by my improved method. With the reinforced knit fabric made according to Fig. 1 it is easy to narrow in the usual manner at II and III, as well as at V and VI. At I and IV there will 'be no'narrowing because this necessitates a. change of the needles with particularly long butts. With knit fabrics made according to Fig. 2 the reinforcing can be VII, the work is comraised. The knitting is then continued to the effected at XI and XII and the knit fabric proper can be narrowed at VIII and IX. In Fig. 4 it is shown how a fabric according to Fig. 2 is manufactured. There are shown in this figure the needles 5-,. and 5b which have a long butt, and close the two courses of loops when the respective lock is adjusted to half. 9, as well as fa and it denote the thread guides. There is drawn in said figure the commencement of a new ting double course in which the reinforcing thread guide It is behind the main thread guide The reinforcing thread guide is left behind at XII and will be carried along at the formation of the next course.

A breadth of the reinforcement can be attained also with only one reinforcing thread guide if, as shown in Fig. 3; this thread guide is permitted to move along while an entire course of loops is being formed. As to the production of this fabric in a mechanical way there are requisite those means which prevent the respective thread guide from being carried along through the lock, as well as those means which close the loop courses at the end of each double course. Concerning applying the reinforcements the devices presented for carrying out the method permit combining any one of the examples shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 with any other one of these examples. Reinforcements may be produced simultaneously at two places by applying the reinforcement VII-XI and X-XII of Fig. 2 also to the right-hand side of Fig. 3. The arrangement XIII and XIV shown in Fig. 3 can also be supplemented in that the one reinforcing thread guide does not come to a standstill at the end of a loop but is carried along further on a portion of the subsequent course so that the reinforcement extends, for instance, over about three fourths of a knit double course.

The fabric produced in accordance with the new process is shown framentarily in Fig. 5 and on a very much enlarged scale. However, Fig. 5 shows only a portion of the tubular fabric, namely, that portion which is adjacent reference character 3 in Fig. 1, that is, the knit joint portion 3 with a portion of the adjacent loop structure of the front and rear needle beds lying to the right and left (the portions designated I and IV in Fig. 1)

The knit portion produced upon the rear needle bed is designated by X in Fig. 5 and the knit portion of the front needle bed is designated by Y, while the connecting portion, that is, the knit joint or suture seam portion, is designated by reference character 3 in correspondence with Fig. 1.

While, as shown in Fig. 1 the fabric actually is tubular, in Fig. 5 the knit portions lying to the right and left of the knit joint loop formation 3 are shown spread out flat, for better illustration, that is, they have been represented as lying in a plane.

The loops produced by the rear needle bed are designated by reference character 50 and those of the front needle bed by El. .When the row of loops has been produced and the edges of the still open tube of fabric are to be interlocked, that is, when the connected suture seam or joint 3 is to be provided, then knitting is produced from the reversing point of each edge loop 52 of one needle bed, as is clearly shown in the central portion of Fig. 5. Thereby the knit-over end loop 52 of one needle bed and the end loop 53 of the other needle bed are caused to lie in the same relation to one another as the remaini knitloops of the front and rear needle beds, that is, the sides of each loop 53 lie forward, while the end of the loop 52 lies behind the sides of the imp 53.

Fig. 6 is based upon Fig. 4 to the extent that in both cases there is shown diagrammatically a plan view of a flat knitting machine with two needle beds. Whereas, however, Fig. 4 is a purely' diagrammatic plan view, Fig. 6 is not only a plan view but also a somewhat diagrammatically made drawing. Fig. 6 shows first the rear and front needle beds and a row of needles I, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, l, 8, 9 and I0, respectively, as well as the main thread guide 9 with the main thread. Upon the front needle bed, the loops A1 are indicated, whereas the sides of these loops A1 and the adjoining rows of loops are not visible, as they hang vertically downward and thus are covered by the front needle bed. The same is' true also for the rear needle bed, that is, in reality, of the upper row of loops only the loops A would be recognizable, never the sides of these loops and the already-knit rows of loops B and C. In Fig. 6, however, the rows of loops A, B, C are shown lying horizontally in order at all to make it possible to recognize the loop formation and the crossing of the open tube portions. Actually thus the loop rows A, B, C should be considered as hanging vertically, as is always the case in a tubular fabric, which is produced upon a fiat knitting machine.

The main thread guide g has moved from the left side of the machine to the right side of the machine and now assumes the right hand end position shown in Fig. 6. Thereby the row of loops which is designated by A, is formed upon the rear needle bed. For this reason the loops of the row of loops A also hang in the needles I, 2 and 3. Of course, the row of needles must be visualized as continued to the left with suspended loops. Thus the row of loops A indicates the row of loops just produced while the loops B indicate the preceding row of loops and the row of loops C the row of loops preceding the latter.

The needles of the rear needle bed show that the'loops are suspended only in the needle hooks of the needles I, 2 and 3 which likewise are shown only diagrammatically, that is, they are gripped by the hook needles, whereas the needle 8 shows how the hook of the same has grasped the main thread and is in the act of drawing it through one of the loops B in the direction of the arrow. If the needle 4 then assumes the same position as needle 3 the next loop A is formed. The two last needles 5 and ID of the rear and forward needle bed execute oppositely-directed and crossing movements atthe point where the tubular goods is open, that is, the place marked I, IV in Fig. 1. Thereby the needle 5 grips behind the thread portion leading to the main thread guide from one side and the needle 10 grips the main thread from the other side. If now the two needles 5 and I0 again move back in the direction of the arrows, then not only is the main'thread drawn through the end loop 13, but simultaneously the needle It] draws the main thread-through the end loops A1, that is, the loop formed upon the front needle bed.

In this manner the openportion of the tubular goods is crossed from the rear needle bed.

upon the forward needle bed of loops.

I wish it to be understood that the present new invention is applicable not only ,in that case in which all courses of loops are produced in the manner of tubular knit fabrics, but also in that case in which loop courses knit in the manner of a tube are knit together alternately with other courses, for instance such of ribbed goods.

I claim:

1. The process of knitting a tubular fabric on a two bed fiat knitting machine which comprises forming a first course of loops by feeding'a thread to the needles of the rear and front beds in the order named, forming a second course by feeding said thread to the needles of the front and rear beds in the order named, feeding said thread to an end needle only of the front bed at the completion of the second course; and then starting a third course on the needles of the rear bed.

2. The process specified in claim 1 with the added step of feeding an additional thread to any desired portion of the fabric while in course of production, for reinforcing same.

SIMON KRAUTKOPF.

by knitting-over 

